Is the American psyche terminally fucked up? Prolly. I’m sick of it. Here’s an old poem, mostly an Italian sonnet by construction, on something about cognitive development, not that that was the original intent; there was zero intention, except to describe someone. The rest happened like a bad car accident. I found the extreme collision with the pun unavoidable at the time. Whoever said I could drive? Not me. If you want Wallace Stevens, go read Stevens, or Snoop Dogg. I did like the idea of putting words into the container of a specific meter and rhyme, because otherwise, “it’s like playing tennis without a net.” Once upon a time, deigning to write in metered verse was pretentious, if not tendentious. Piffle, poffle. If you can’t have a dreary slide into nostalgia now and again, what’s the point?
October 2007 archive
Oct 14 2007
Googlebombing Blackwater (part 1)
Much to my surprise Blackwater proudly exhibits itself online, and who can blame them what with the constant need for more itchy trigger fingers. So, I got to thinking, if we can googlebomb corrupt politicians, we can googlebomb fascist businesses like Blackwater.
I need your help on this. We need to find the most damning but true articles, blog entries, stories regarding Blackwater. Everyone should take the time to visit the entries and tell the group which ones are the most effective. I will then create the coding for the links and post them. Anytime we mention Blackwater we include one of the coded links.
Oct 14 2007
To All The Racists Hiding Behind Martin Luther King
Mychal Bell is a bad boy, didja know that? He was violent. He was a bad boy. And because of that, no one should protest on his behalf, because if they do, they’re misguided, yes, they are misguided because it was far worse, his beating up that white boy, than it was to put some nooses on a tree. No one was sent to the emergency room as a result of nooses on a tree. But Mychal Bell sent a white boy to the emergency room, and he is bad.
Yep. He was violent. And further more, I’m no racist! Oh no, I would be the first to say those white boys who put a noose on a tree should have been expelled! Yes, expelled! And those school board folks and the DA, well they should be held to account, yes they should! But that Mychal Bell, he’s a bad boy, and you are misguided to protest on his behalf. After all, he was violent. What would Martin Luther King say? He would never have marched in Jena.
And I have to say, that Mychal Bell is a lucky fellow, he’s going to have so many opportunities because of all that media attention, all that money coming his way, he’s a lucky boy and I hope he takes advantage of all these opportunities. I wish him no ill, I just hope he realizes how lucky he is!
*****
All the sentiments above are from comments I have read both at Daily Kos and elsewhere over the Jena 6. My response is below.
Oct 14 2007
From Russia with Love
Like a near death experience my life changed last Friday when I witnessed my Russian boss experience a mental melt down as a consequence of having lived his life in two totalitarian states. I now know I’m right as I say “we” (America) won’t last through the winter.
Oct 14 2007
Will Congress now back Gore & the IPCC? Let’s pressure them to!
Amidst all the excitement about Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize, the questions and dreams about a possible presidential campaign, and the inevitable criticism from right wing cynics (demonstrating, once again, that they neither understand nor even like the concept of peace), let’s not lose focus on what really matters. It is not about the man, it is about his cause; and he is the man he is because he puts the cause above any personal considerations, and whether or not he runs will undoubtedly be determined by his best assessment of whether it will be the best way to serve the cause! We need also keep that priority straight! The coming weeks are critical, and we can help!
Largely because of Al Gore and the IPCC, global warming and climate change have now come to be frontline political issues. Bush no longer ignores it, and now tries to spin it (the best he will ever do on any political issue), and Congress is finally crafting legislation to address it. For now, this is where we need focus.
Mark Hertsgaard, the environmental correspondent for The Nation, puts it directly:
Now that Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, will the US Congress take the IPCC’s scientific advice on how to fight global warming? The IPCC holds that the world must reduce greenhouse gas emissions at least 80 percent by the year 2050. Few in Congress seem prepared to go that far, however. And judging from the discussion at a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill last week, even lawmakers who personally embrace the “gold standard” of 80 percent reductions are prepared to endorse a weaker measure in the name of getting some form of climate legislation moving in Congress.
If we take Al Gore seriously, and we take seriously his Nobel Prize, we need to immediately begin lobbying Congress to do the same. This is no time for the compromises that define the usual failures of our political system. With the issue in the headlines, we need let our Congressional representatives know that we are watching, and that we are expecting more than lip service.
The question is, what bill will reformers get behind? How ambitious will they be? Will they demand what the scientific community says is the minimum necessary to enable our civilization to (perhaps) avoid the worst future scenarios of global warming: deep cuts in emissions by 2020 on the way to 80-90 percent cuts by 2050? Or, in the name of not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, will they favor a more modest and gradual approach?
The weak, ineffectual compromise approach is being championed by those champions of political weakness and ineffectual compromise, Senators John Warner (R-VA) and Joseph Lieberman (?-CT). Their bill would mandate emission reductions of 10 percent by 2020, and 70 percent by 2050. That they would, for some reason, decide on an approach that falls 10 percent short on such a critical goal says everything. It won’t solve the problem, but it will make nice window dressing. It’s not just embarrassing and absurd, it’s dangerous!
Not only do these provisions fall short of the scientific standard; there is even less here than meets the eye. The bill, as described in briefings and press accounts, contains a number of loopholes, including provisions that (1) will give rather than sell greenhouse-gas-emissions permits to polluters, thus violating the “polluter pays” principle of environmental accounting, and (2) count so-called carbon offsets–that is, paying someone else to reduce emissions while continuing to emit oneself–as genuine reductions.
An alternative has been proposed by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Bernard Sanders (I-VT), with a similar bill in the House being sponsored by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA). Their bills mandate the 80 percent reductions, on real terms, rather than with carbon offsets, and they make the polluters pay. Hertsgaard links to the World Resource Institute’s comparison of these, and other, proposals.
Of course, only one of the bills is getting traction, on Congress.
According to sources speaking on background because of the confidential nature of the discussions, most Senate Democrats and many environmental and other public interest groups are preparing to support the Lieberman-Warner bill, despite misgivings about its shortcomings.
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While some in Congress apparently believe it is important to pass something, anything, environmental writer Bill McKibben disagrees. Since Bush is likely to veto even Warner-Lieberman, McKibben believes that even passing it will only serve to lower the bar, for the next Congress and the next president. It will make Warner-Lieberman appear to be the proper standard. Clearly, that would be unacceptable.
As McKibben explained to Hertsgaard, in a previous interview:
Since Bush is going to veto it anyway, there is no reason to make [a climate bill] less ambitious than what science requires. Climate change isn’t like other issues. It doesn’t do any good to split the difference to reach a deal everyone can live with. Climate change is about the laws of physics and chemistry, and they don’t give.
We’re all thrilled that Al Gore and the IPCC won the Nobel Peace Prize. It’s time for us to help them leverage that prestige, by pressuring Congress to do what is right. Call your senators and congresspeople. Tell them that Warner-Lieberman is unacceptable, and that the only valid options are Boxer-Sanders and Waxman. We now have the political momentum. Let’s not waste it!
Oct 14 2007
“Immunity” for White House Crimes
“IMMUNITY” IS NOT the word that should be being used to highlight and headline stories regarding the case of the telecoms and the FISA bill. “Retroactive immunity” is not even right. These terms put the focus of this story on the telecoms. It belongs on the White House. If the word is going to be used at all, it should be along the lines of “Bush seeking protection for possible White House crimes with immunity request.”?
Oct 14 2007
Dubai Arms Bazaars: Shop ’til you Drop!
This weekend, buyers from across the Gulf states and the Middle East will descend on a huge arms fair in Dubai. Sheikhs, emirs, princes and kings will be buying anything from specialised sniper ammunition by the ton, to the highest-tech surveillance gear and even the odd British Aerospace gunboat or Eurofighter.
The Arab world will use the International Defence Exhibition (IDEX), to tool up for a coming confrontation with Iran, and to arm Sunni insurgents to fight Iran’s allies in Iraq, the Shia militias.
Oct 14 2007
Kiss of Death
Positive for lead:
L’Oreal Colour Riche “True Red”: 0.65 ppm
L’Oreal Colour Riche “Classic Wine”: 0.58 ppm
Cover Girl Incredifull Lipcolor “Maximum Red”: 0.56 ppm
Dior Addict “Positive Red”: 0.21 ppm
Oct 14 2007
A Crisp, Clear Night At The Edge Of An Evergreen Wood
The snow crunches underfoot, and it yields to a soft underlayment, glistening with mystery as the moon parlays its reflected sheen on the infinite sparkling frosty desert.
An aroma of universal home wafts through the swaying branches of pine, of spruce and of arborvitae. Pungent, yet gentle, it speaks to timelessness, of shelter, of contemplation. Those trees, in their conversations, tell the stories of the wind, of the light and shadow, and of all those who pass overhead and underneath the regal limbs.
This night, the deepening blueblack of the scrim reveals brilliant gems in their courses.
The moon conducts the symphony, and the celestial choir hums the chorus. Listen, ears pricked, and feel the song of songs. The trees sway in rhythm. Tapping bark tympanics applaud the performance. The earth turns in time with the music to follow the melody.
Peering through the ferny pines are the night watchers. Those with wings ruffle their rachis and tuck themselves into the tempo. Paws shuffle and legs dance with the harmonic pulsing. Fur rises and then settles in warm comforting envelopment of its bearer.
The lone observer encumbered by clothes to protect a vulnerable fur-less skin, gazes unseeing, but with listening ears, hearing feet, fingertips alive and perceiving the deep cold that doesn’t come from the air. Hands curled and thrust deep in flannel-lined pockets, face turned to the moon, lost in the music, the pattern, the all, time wasn’t, and here was everywhere and nowhere.
Far to go, having far come, here at last.
Here at last.
Oct 13 2007
(Update) H.R. 3585: Native American Heritage Day
Well, I must say I’m pleasantly surprised.
To honor of the achievements and contributions of Native Americans to the United States, and for other purposes.
Let’s find a way to make it happen and in a good way, please.
This bill is in the first stage of the legislative process where the bill is considered in committee and may undergo significant changes in markup sessions. The bill has been referred to the following committees:
Oct 13 2007
Let Atlanta Die of Thirst
(Crossposted at the Orange Vortex of All Futility and Despair)
I’m not sure we need to help Atlanta with their water problem. They’ve had more than enough time over the last 7 years of our Glorious Decider’s reign to purge their local government of the anti-American elements that have no doubt worked successfully to deprive Atlanta of access to water at free-market prices. See, this is what happens when you have bloated and corrupt liberal government approach to providing services like water. If people would pay for water, they would have it, it is just that simple. Where are the entrepreneurs towing icebergs from the North and South polar regions? Note to Al Gore: those icebergs are going to melt anyway, why not use them for drinking water? This problem is Atlanta’s to solve. No bleeding-heart liberal water bail-outs for those lazy freeloaders, I say. If they want water, they can pay $1.75 a liter like everybody else from the convenience store. Its these water utilities providing 1000 liters of tap water for 2 cents that are causing these shortages, you know. Things aren’t priced right, there are shortages. Maybe they’ll figure out that dying of thirst is more painful than shelling out a fair market price to Aquafina or Costco.